


Wings

by opalescent_cheetah



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race (US) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Aromantic, F/F, Platonic Soulmates, So here we are, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, the world needs more aro-inclusive soulmate aus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28525269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalescent_cheetah/pseuds/opalescent_cheetah
Summary: In a world where the first tattoo you get will also appear on your soulmate's skin, it's difficult to fit in when romance is the last thing you want. Courtney never got her tattoo with the intention of finding her soulmate, and yet, they are still led to one another by those ink-dark feathers.The world was not made for them, but perhaps it never needed to be.
Relationships: Bianca Del Rio/Shane Jenek | Courtney Act
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Wings

**Author's Note:**

> As much as I love sweet, fluffy romantic stories, there's always been a part of me that yearned for there to be more aro rep in fic. Of course, the best way to get what you want is to write it, so here it is: my first fic centred around aromanticism, framed through the lens of a soulmate au.
> 
> The soulmate au felt a natural choice because of how typically romance-centric they are; I wanted to flip the script and create a universe where aromantic soulmates were possible. I chose not to remove the inundation of romance in society, because that is something a lot of aros have to deal with and I wanted to represent that.
> 
> Also, this fic is set in the same universe as One Direction (To Your Heart), but it's not necessary to have read that to understand it. All you need to know is that Bianca is the head of her own fashion label, and Courtney is one of her models.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Fuck.”

The wings. Courtney has the wings.

“Bianca? Are you okay?”

They’re right there, inked across her back, feathers arranged in perfect rows. The sight of them makes Bianca’s stomach turn, and she doesn’t reply for a long moment.

“I’m fine,” she says eventually, her tone clipped, even harsher than it usually is. “Just remembered something.”

She tears her eyes away from the tattoo, feeling like she’s going to be sick. 

_Courtney has the wings._

The same wings that appeared on Bianca’s skin two years ago.

“Courtney, I’m going to need to see you in my office before you go home this afternoon. It’s important.”

“Okay, but--”

“Be there.” Bianca doesn’t give her the chance to ask any questions before she turns on her heel, leaving Courtney standing with her dress half-zipped, green eyes glimmering with confusion. 

~

The dress is beautiful. It fits Courtney like a glove, shimmering with pale sequins that catch the light every time she moves. But whenever she looks in the mirror, she can’t stop herself from turning around, peering at the delicate feathers fanning out across her shoulder blades, exposed by the low cut of the dress.

The ink burns her back, digging deep claws into her skin. Her tattoo is beautiful, and she wouldn’t change it for the world, but… still, sometimes she regrets it. She regrets visualising the possibility that there could be somebody out there who is supposed to be hers. The wings make it - make _them_ \- real, tangible, and the idea of them hurts Courtney’s soul, hollows it out until she isn’t sure who she is anymore.

Is she wrong for not wanting them? The world tells her she is, fires it at her from all angles, and yet nothing she does can fill that emptiness in her chest.

She has seen how her friends’ faces go dreamy whenever they talk about their soulmates, and every time, Courtney has to force a smile, her happiness for them dulled by the discomfort pooling in her stomach. Looking at her ink-dark wings, she wonders about the person who shares them. Will they paint that dream-touched look on her face, too? Courtney can’t quite fathom it.

And when she asks what it’s like, everyone always says her soulmate will complete her, tells her that they will fit beside her like a puzzle piece; that she will find everything she never knew she wanted wrapped up in their perfect smile. 

Courtney simply can’t see her hopes and dreams existing as a person. She doesn’t like the idea of being better thanks to somebody else - she’s Courtney Act, and as far she’s concerned, she’s just fine the way she is. Needing someone else to reassure her of that, to fill in the missing pieces of her soul, feels stupid. Childish, almost. Like being a teenager and watching all her friends fall in love, wondering why she was never enough to be their first choice.

She turns away from the mirror, wrapped in a familiar discomfort that has long since started to feel like home.

~

Bianca startles at the sound of knocking.

“Come in,” she says gruffly, glancing at the clock, only just noticing what time it is. 

_Shit._

“You said you wanted to see me?”

Bianca’s gaze snaps up, meeting gentle green eyes and a soft smile. Her heart twists at the sight.

“I did,” she replies stiffly, waiting as Courtney helps herself to one of the empty seats opposite her. 

So this is her soulmate. Courtney is generically pretty, with a petite frame and luscious hair like the models in magazines and shampoo advertisements. Still, she radiates a genuine warmth and friendliness; she doesn’t seem to be intimidated by Bianca in the slightest, which Bianca supposes is something she can appreciate. 

“Okay, look, this is going to sound really stupid. But just hear me out, alright?” Bianca takes a deep breath, quickly revising what she’s planned to say. She’s been mulling over it all afternoon, ever since she left the dressing rooms, but she still feels completely unprepared.

“It’s fine,” Courtney assures her. “Say whatever you need to. I’m listening.”

Bianca steels herself, vacating any shred of expression from her face until all that’s left is a cool, collected emptiness. 

She might as well get this over and done with. 

“You’re my soulmate,” she says bluntly. “I saw your wings when you were doing the fitting this morning.” 

She pauses to gauge Courtney’s reaction and it’s… strange, to say the least. Bianca watches as her eyes go wide and the colour drains from her face. The clock ticks on the wall - one second, two seconds, three - but Courtney remains silent, motionless. 

“I’m just going to say this upfront,” Bianca continues, when it becomes clear Courtney has nothing to add. “I have no interest in you, or whatever magical bond is supposed to make us fall in love for the rest of our lives. Destiny means shit to me, and if that matters to you, you can fuck off and go cry somewhere else. Tissues are there if you want to take one on your way out.”

She doesn’t look at Courtney again. She doesn’t think she’s ready to see the hurt she’s plastered all over that delicate face. The words had come out harsher than she’d intended - more defensive, as though Bianca is a cornered animal - but there’s no turning back now. 

Courtney surprises her by breathing out a sigh of relief. 

“Oh, thank goodness,” she says, sounding like an immense weight has just been lifted from her shoulders. 

“Are you fucking deaf?” Bianca snaps. “This should not be a good thing for you.” 

“But it is!” Courtney replies delightedly. “Something about this whole ‘soulmates’ thing has always thrown me off, and I guess… it’s nice to find someone that thinks like that, too.” 

Bianca takes a moment to eye her up and down. She’s lying - she must be lying. Bianca has never met another person who hasn’t been obsessed with the idea of finding their other half.

“I’ve just never found romance that interesting,” Courtney elaborates. “It doesn’t appeal to me. It never has. I like to think I’m perfectly fine without some fated love to complete me.” She says the words with a casual air about her, but Bianca can still hear the bitterness grating between her teeth.

It feels painfully familiar, and Bianca has to take a stunned moment to replay Courtney’s words in her head. She has never heard her own thoughts - and such deeply personal ones, at that - come out of another person’s mouth, and she certainly never imagined her own soulmate would be the one echoing them back to her. 

“But then, if we’re soulmates… what does this mean for us?” she asks quietly, shock and caution laced in every word.

Courtney smiles, taking Bianca’s hand in both of hers. 

“You know what? I think that’s up to us.” 

~

“So we’re soulmates.”

“I thought we’d established that already.”

Courtney coughs awkwardly, staring into her steaming mug of tea. Bianca’s abrasive personality still isn’t something she’s used to, but she finds she doesn’t mind it. 

She glances up again, meeting Bianca’s eyes. They’re a warm brown, speckled with gold, and they remind Courtney of sunny Christmases in Australia: of long, shiny days, of sitting out in the backyard as the sun sets and her family downs cartons of beer together. She can’t help but smile, and Bianca’s gaze darts away again, but not before Courtney’s catches the odd mix of confusion and intrigue in the depths of her eyes. 

She knows there’s a softer side to Bianca under that tough surface. She’s seen it already, in Bianca’s quiet hesitance on the drive back to her apartment, and in the gentleness with which she gave Courtney her tea. 

“You know,” Courtney says, shattering the tense silence that has settled around them, “I’d kinda been hoping that this - the wings - that they wouldn’t really be a soul tattoo.”

“Why’d you take the risk, then?” Bianca asks. “If you’d kept your skin clear, you’d never have to worry.”

It’s apparent that that’s the path Bianca chose, and the path she’d hoped her soulmate would choose, too.

“Unfortunately, I find tattoos pretty and wanted to get one regardless,” Courtney tells her. “I didn’t get it with the intention of finding you… I just liked it.” 

“Well.” Bianca clears her throat. “That was a stupid idea.” 

Courtney laughs. “What, don’t you like me?”

Her chest hums in pride when Bianca smiles, dimples appearing in her cheeks. 

“You caused me two years of grief, so I can’t say I do,” Bianca deadpans, but she’s still smiling. Despite that, Courtney knows exactly what she means, hears the quiet honesty behind her words. 

Romance has been an ever-present force in her life: something that Courtney has tried and failed at running from, time and time again. It was in her childhood, in the sugary cartoons filled with matching tattoos and happy endings. It was in her adolescence, when her friends left her behind for their first taste of love even before they were tattooed. It follows her now, as the people around her find their soulmates and dive into relationships Courtney has never been able to see for herself. 

So, of course she knows what Bianca means. The wings always represented the possibility of there being someone else, someone out there who was supposed to be hers. They represented the inevitable heartbreak that Bianca had clearly been expecting when she called Courtney into her office earlier that afternoon. 

Except that didn’t happen, and now they’re here, sitting across from each other at Bianca’s dining table. 

“Do you think it’s destiny?” Courtney blurts out. 

“What?”

“Destiny. I - I always thought this whole soulmates thing would force me into a relationship I don’t want and a love I can’t feel. But it hasn’t, because… you’re like me.” Courtney swallows thickly. “I’ve never met anyone else like me.” 

“Neither have I,” Bianca replies quietly. 

There’s a long silence. Courtney counts her heartbeats. 

“Maybe it is,” Bianca finally says, meeting Courtney’s eyes again. “Destiny, I mean. Have you ever heard that ‘your soulmate is tailored to you’ bullshit?”

Courtney nods.

“Maybe there’s something to it,” Bianca admits, a slight frown tugging at her lips. Courtney knows how she feels - it’s weird, rethinking everything she thought she believed. But it’s a good kind of weird, especially now that she has Bianca. Someone who understands. 

“I’m really happy I found you, Bianca,” Courtney murmurs. 

Bianca smiles, and it shines in her eyes like fairy lights.

“You know what? Me too. You’re not so bad after all, Miss Act.”

Courtney laughs. “I’ll take it.”

And in this moment, sitting across from Bianca - her _soulmate,_ she thinks, not without a little newfound wonder - she feels like everything might just turn out alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it - I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
